http-equiv='refresh'/> Tin TeePee/Log Cabin: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Touring In the New Car

We couldn't resist taking the little car for a spin yesterday afternoon. Drove into Big Timber to show Nat how we had lost our minds then on a whim called Jill and Terry who met us for dinner at the Timber.

The weather forecast for today was wind, 60ish and sunny so off we went in the little car. We headed west and decided to drive what we call the White Sulphur Springs loop. In the little town of White Sulphur Springs there is this dive of a restaurant that serves great hamburgers and to die for milkshakes, we had hamburgers and resisted the milkshakes.

As we were approaching the turnoff to head east toward Harlowton, Michael asked me how far it was to Niehart. I didn't know but since I was driving, I turned that direction instead--only 38 miles, let's go. A couple of years ago a childhood friend of Michael's, Royal and his wife Nancy purchased a little store in the tiny summer/ski village town of Niehart on top of Showdown mountain pass. Royal decided to name the store the Niehart Inconvenient Store because it was damn inconvenient for him to run the store.

We got to the little store and both Royal and Nancy were there which is unusual and we were delighted to see each other! Nancy usually comes over to open the store on the weekend by herself but Royal came today because they have such an incredible amount of snow--3 feet! The store is an eclectic mix of stuff--groceries, hardware, t-shirts, espresso and some great handmade cards of which I bought several. Nancy and Royal have a six month old border collie/blue heeler/Australian shepherd mix puppy and Emmi was not real sure about this dog with paws the size of saucers. It was so wonderful to see those guys, we spent a couple of hours just visiting before heading back over the mountain toward home.

Nancy and Speck minding the store.
Doesn't that look like a couple of disreputable cowboys??

Speck and Emmi

Look at all that snow!
It was a spectacular day and we had a ball with the new car. The full moon was rising as we drove home.







Friday, October 30, 2009

The Surprise

Thursday morning we left home headed for Kalispell, Montana, about a six hour drive. It was a beautiful day for a drive, sunny and the snow made the mountains look so spectacular. We drove and drove--Emmi was a great traveler finding that she liked the center console of the truck for her naps.

In northwestern Montana the larch trees are shedding their needles. Larch are a type of evergreen but every two years the tree needles turn gold and fall. This photo doesn't really do the real picture justice.
Last evening after accomplishing our goal, we drove back to Seeley Lake where Mike's parents once lived and spent the night. Can you say YUK!!! That was the worst motel we have frequented in a long, long time. I told Michael, no more motels for me, I want my motorhome, my own sheets, my own pillows, you get the picture.
OK, enough--our purpose in going to Kalispell, we are having a mid-life crisis--but wait, we are too told for a mid-life crisis so maybe we will just call it enjoying life. Michael and I have been looking for a convertible for about 2 years, we almost bought a Miata last summer and have looked and called about many others. Well, we found one!!




It is a 2002 Toyota MR2 Spyder with only 60,000 miles on it. We hauled it home in the horse trailer; almost had to grease the sides to get the car in the horse trailer. The kid who sold us the car was about as skinny as a toothpick and crawled out the window after driving the car up into the horse trailer. I was kind of worried about how Michael or I were going to crawl back in that window but we did it, the car is sitting in the garage. We would love to go take it for a spin but it is muddy, raining/sleeting/snowing--just yucky. Maybe tomorrow.
So, life is good.



Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Leah! I hear you had a wonderful party on Friday and were the star attraction. We hope you had a great birthday, are you a big girl now?? We love you!
This is my great niece Leah and she is five years old today.

Snow

We woke to about six inches of new snow--it was beautiful, it stuck to the bare tree branches and just looked so wintry. Poor Emmi didn't know what to do and when we went for a walk she looked like a little snowball by the time we got back.


We got the longarm machine back together again but it is making a rattle type noise. Michael thinks we unseated the gears which isn't the end of the world, I just have to listen to it like that until the gears re-seat themselves?? Amy, the guru of maintenance at APQS agrees with us.

As I said in an earlier blog, the Montana coordinator for the Quilts of Valor project spoke at our quilt meeting last night. This is a nationwide project to make sure each wounded soldier coming from Germany to the United States has a quilt. The supplies for making the quilts such as fabric and batting, the postage, and the time to make the quilts and then quilt them is donated. There is a group that meets in Belgrade, MT once a month to work on the Quilts of Valor and many different groups have taken QOV on as a community service project. Even men such as those in the National Guard have gotten involved making quilt blocks. Approximately 44 quilts have been sent to Germany so far and the MT organization has another 50 almost ready to go. There was not a dry eye in the house when the coordinator read some of the thank you letters from the soldiers.


Some more wintry photos.



Tomorrow we are off on a little trip--we may or may not have internet coverage and I will let you know the results of the trip when it is a done deal!

Quilt Meeting and Longarm Maintenance

I was so tired when I came home from the quilter's meeting last night that I went straight to bed, no blog and I all ready have an e-mail from my sister Ann this morning wondering where the blog is!

When we were in Iowa at the APQS factory early this month I noticed that the newer machines had a fatter "hopping foot." This is the foot much like a pressure foot on a regular sewing machine. Fatter is better allowing you greater control when using a ruler so I ordered a new one and Michael and I attempted to put it on the machine yesterday morning. What we thought would be a 2 hour job turned into a 6 hour job and we are not finished yet! Many calls to the factory and much stress! But, we are confident we can get it done today.

The Timberline Quilting Club was born last night, we chose this as our name. The Montana coordinator for the Quilts of Valor was our speaker and it was an awesome presentation. I will write more about that later today. There was not a dry eye in the room! I took the snacks (whoever wins the door prize brings the snacks for the next meeting) and got so many compliments on my cookies and dip. Nobody minded the Costco peppermint bark, either!

As I drove home last night the wind was blowing and it was snowing. This is what we woke up to this morning. It is beautiful!
We had sunny skies yesterday but lots of cold, cold wind.


Monday, October 26, 2009

A Great Day

Allergies are much better today. We left home early this morning heading to Big Timber to pick up Jeane. We were going to Billings to pick up glass for the fireplace doors Michael is making for George and Shirley. Jeane wanted a serger after seeing mine work so off we went.

It was a great day. We did a little of this and that shopping, had lunch at CJ's (Jeane had never been) and ended the day at Costco. I got a new pair of sneakers at Famous Footwear but Jeane didn't end up with a serger. We will look online, Costco had one online but not in the store. We saw sergers from $250 up to $1400!!!! Jeane and I about choked when we saw the $1400 one--she passed to say the least! It was a fun, fun day spent with a good friend!

The wind is supposed to howl tonight as in 70mph gusts, if there is a leaf left on these trees, there won't be by morning!



Emmi went along today and was a good, good girl. She is almost 5 months old and growing like a weed.



Sunday, October 25, 2009

Allergies and Quilting

I never had allergies until a few years ago and I think I am allergic to wood smoke--woke up this morning sneezing and coughing. About lunch time I gave up and took half a 25mg Benadryl. By the time I finished lunch with Mike and Nat I was ready for a nap, those antihistamines just zonk me. Snoozed a while on the couch then headed to the quilting studio.

I made great progress on a quilting project that is still a secret, I might manage to get it finished this week!

Nat came up for lunch and I made pork chops with apple/onion stuffing, yummy!

Emmi got a bath today and I got out the clippers and clipped some of the hair away from her eyes--she has eyes!! She wasn't too thrilled with the clipper business, hope that does not bode ill for a real haircut as I do my own dog grooming. She looks so cute and smells so much better!

It was a cold, blustery day here in McLeod, MT. Michael took this photo while we were out on our walk. That cabin is farther up the East Boulder and is over 2 miles from our place.
The weather looked very stormy this morning but gave in to clear skies, just cold and windy.
Today in Arkansas they celebrated my Aunt Valeta's 80th birthday. When all the nieces and nephews were growing up, none of us could say Valeta so we called her Aunt BeBe. Happy Birthday Aunt Valeta. Mom was one of six daughters, no sons and Aunt Valeta is next to the oldest.
Life is good.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Class and Heat Again

Neither of us slept well last night and got up just feeling icky. But, I had a class to teach so I had a few cups of coffee and showered which woke me up a little. Got lunch dishes out, table set and bread set to rise before my student Mary came. We had a great time learning how to use the longarm. I had loaded a huge practice piece and after covering some how to issues, I turned her loose. It is fun to see the delight most people have when they figure out, "hey, I can do this." I had made chicken salad accompanied by grapes and sliced avocados and of course, delicious homemade bread. After lunch Mary quilted for a while then departed. I worked on a quilt for a while then just couldn't go anymore and came upstairs to read.

We have radiant hot water heat in our upstairs tile floors in the kitchen and baths. The same kind of heat is also in our basement floors. Since we came home from Iowa our master bath floors have been frigid--remember the next day after we got home it was 5 below. I have mentioned it to Michael several times and I get the usual plumber's wife answer, meaning I am last in line behind everybody else. Well yesterday I had a small fit and today he fixed my heat!!! Somehow a large amount of air was in those lines going to the bathroom, now the floors are all ready warming!

Emmi and I took a late afternoon walk and took these photos. It has been extremely windy, taking all our frost bitten black leaves off the trees last night and today, now it really looks like winter.

Winter reflections in our little pond.
Our friends Al and Kelly of the Bayfield Bunch left Ontario this morning heading south. Other RVing folks have had a really bad border experience and are still stuck in Canada, denied entrance to the US. Al and Kelly had a wonderful, polite young border agent and sailed right through, tonight they are in Michigan. Safe travels, guys.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Ready for Winter

Our forecast for the next few days calls for nasty weather, not so cold but rainy, very windy and snowy. I decided that this time I would be ready. I mulched all the plants that needed protection, pulled in water hoses, helped Michael replenish the wood pile and put away the deck furniture. I'm ready!

This was our view of the Crazy Mountains this morning on our walk. The second photo is the same mountains viewed from Nat's dining room in town.


In the early evening George and Shirley, Claire and Robyn came over for wine and munchies--we have not seen Claire and Robyn for a while so it was a good visit. Emmi was the hit of the party again, spoiled dog!
Tidied up after everyone left then finished getting ready for my quilting class I am teaching tomorrow morning.
Shirley and I share magazines when we are both home--in one of her magazines I read an article about putting things in perspective called Words to Chill By in the August issue of Good Housekeeping. One of the sayings was, "When life looks like it's falling apart, it may just be falling into place." I like that!


Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Nice Day

Before Emmi I would get up, start the coffee, fire up the computer, let Jazz out and then sit down to read the news online and all the blogs I follow. Well, with Emmi all that gets delayed for a while--she is one fired up ready to play puppy when she gets up. We go outside to do business then come in and play with all her toys for a while before Mom gets her first sip of coffee. I guess she is worth it???

Michael took Emmi for her walk this morning and I got ready to go into town. I had a massage appointment and after that blissful hour I met good friends Jeane and Jill for lunch. I've said before that our choices for eating out in Big Timber are severely limited. We went to the newer coffee house and had a great Reuben sandwich and potato soup, very good!

I drove out to our veterinarian's to deliver some "quilts". When I got the longarm I quilted and quilted on any kind of fabric I could find in the house and anything cheap. Well--then I had all these practice pieces. So I cut them up into smaller blankets and serged around the edges. The vet was very happy to get the "quilts."

On the way back into Big Timber, this was my view of the Crazy Mountains--looks like a storm is coming and it did.


These photos are the reason Michael and I never tire of the drive "up the Boulder."



Michael winterized Joe and Tammy's house and the RV today. He also blew out our sprinkler system and thinks that our backyard sprinklers probably have broken pipes. We just weren't ready for below zero temperatures in early October. Oh, well, we will fix the pipes in the spring.
When I got home from town I cleaned the quilt studio and got a practice piece backing loaded on the machine getting ready for the class I am teaching on Saturday.
Life is good!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Did I Do Anything Today??

My sister sent an e-mail this morning asking who was reading my blog from these small towns in Arkansas. I have no clue who most of the people are who read my blog; I just know that an large number of people seem to find our boring lives interesting!

We went for a chilly walk this morning but at least the sun was out. After the walk I got in high gear; vacuumed the house, dusted the furniture, took a shower and cooked lunch. In between all that I worked on an outline for a quilting class I am teaching on Saturday.

Our friend Jim put horses back on the land that adjoins us and they were very curious this morning. I played with this photograph in my photo editing software and made it kind of black and white--I liked it. Mike could never get the one horse to turn his head around and look our way.

A little after 2p my friend Jeane showed up and we had a paper piecing lesson, she made a cute little bear. We also worked on some of her computer issues. I helped with photo editing stuff and some internet problems.
I read on my niece's Facebook page today that my great niece Elizabeth is doing a little better--she has the flu. The school she attends was not giving their flu shots until Tuesday of this week--Elizabeth woke up sick Sunday morning, what was that school thinking??? Love you Elizabeth and hope you are feeling much better soon.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Very Early Morning

Who made those 8am doctor's appointments in Billings? Didn't that person know it was a 105 mile drive?? Didn't that person know it would be raining and snowing and all the suicidal deer would be out?? I think that person was me but I must have been sleeping when I was crazy enough to say we would be there by 8am. Nat also had an appointment and we were at his house in town before 6:30--don't even ask what time I crawled out of bed!

We all went to the dermatologist for skin checks. I came out the better of the three with only one spot frozen. Mike and Nat ended up with biopsies, ouch! After the torture, we went to Mike's favorite store, Harbor Freight then on to lunch at CJ's. YUM We made quick stops at Costco and Wal Mart then home which looked particularly welcoming tonight!

Rainy here, snow on the mountains.

Emmi has started to be aware of her surroundings and will chase the deer and bark very loudly. BUT--unlike her sweet predecessor Jazz, Emmi comes back when I call her which is wonderful.

A day at home tomorrow.

Monday, October 19, 2009

It's Raining

Our beautiful weekend weather left last night and the rain started, it wouldn't surprise me if it was white when we get up tomorrow. Poor little Emmi was so disappointed, she loves to be outside and just couldn't stand the rain today.
Lonnie and LoraLee stopped by to pick up the quilt I did for her and we had a nice visit over coffee and homemade pumpkin bread. I spent the rest of the day chasing ideas I think! I may have sold my first longarm quilting machine and I had e-mails of interest from 2 other people about machines. I am giving a longarm class to two friends on Saturday and did some research for that class. Spent a little time on a quilt I am making and the day just went somewhere??
Michael spent the day in the shop working on the "truck".
These two crows were sure talking to us this morning, I called my photo the "two headed crow."


We have to be in Billings at the dermatology office at 8am tomorrow--guess what time we have to get up?? UGH

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Quilting and a Quilting

Our anniversary party on Friday night was so much fun. The food was spectacular, I grilled a filet mignon roast from Costco and it was delicious. I also made those make ahead mashed potatoes. Jill made a wonderful salad and Jeane's contribution was a homemade maple nut cake and ice cream. YUM! Jill and Terry, Jeane and Steve are such wonderful, fun friends and we always enjoy their company.

Saturday I finished a little quilt for Tammy and Mike worked out in the garage. Emmi slept, she got so much attention Friday night, she was a pooped puppy. In the evening we went up the Boulder to the home of friends John and Peg. Denny and Ellen, Mark and Gemma were also there--it was a great evening. Peg wouldn't let any of us bring anything and the food was delicious. John cooked those filet mignon roasts on the grill and the meat was perfect! I need the recipe for Peg's apple cake and sauce, too. I think I gained 5 pounds this weekend.

Emmi stayed home alone last night for the first time--she had the run of the kitchen/living area and she was so good--very glad to see Mom and Dad when we got home.

I've been making that quilt machine hum today. I was on a mission--LoraLee, our daughter-in-law had a quilt she wanted to give to a friend at a party on October 23, Friday. This friend is 40 years old and gravely ill--I wanted to get the quilt done so LoraLee had plenty of time to put the binding on and I did it! LoraLee chose a really soft fabric for the backing called minky and getting the tension adjusted caused a bit of &*%#@ to occur but once I got the tension worked out it was smooth sailing.

Michael spent the day working on friend Steve's truck--and I use the work "truck" loosely! It is a 1941 Chevrolet pickup shell with not one other part, no engine, no seats, no transmission, no nothing. Michael is getting the process started for Steve by putting in the engine.

The deer are very plentiful right now but come hunting season they all disappear!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Wedding Anniversary

Today is our fifteenth wedding anniversary. We got married on a Sunday afternoon in the home of friends, Jill and Terry in a snowstorm. Friends and Michael's daughter were there and it was a lovely wedding.

Since I've all ready been mushy on Michael's birthday, I will just say, he is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me--we have a great marriage and he thinks so too!

We are celebrating tonight with friends Jill and Terry, Jeane and Steve.


The West Boulder mountains
Hunting season begins tomorrow I think and this guy better stay put on our land if he knows whats good for him!

Our ugly brown/black fall color this year.



Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blog's New Look

I'm pretty lazy about changing something once I've got it all set up such as this blog. But Al from the Bayfield Bunch was starting to make me feel guilty he has been so industrious lately. And thanks to all who commented on the new look. Al and Kelly are heading for Arizona in less than two weeks--good for them, wish we were joining them!

Another warm day, up to 52 degrees. The early morning skies looked very stormy.
Another "up the Boulder" photo.

Fresh bear tracks on an aspen tree near the house.
I spent the day cleaning houses--my own and Joe and Tammy's down the driveway. Joe and his son Jeff are arriving tonight and I hated for them to get here late tonight to a house with lots of yucky dead flies and hornets. For those of you who live in stick built houses, log houses are very prone to infestations of flies and other bugs a couple times a year, fall being one of them. And when the house is not lived in all the time like Joe and Tammy's, the problem is compounded.
Nat came up for lunch and I made meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes. Michael got the motor home all the way up the driveway today, YEA!

Isn't this the sweetest little dog? When we brought her home and I started crate training Emmi I put this stuffed bear in the crate with her--she loves to snuggle up to her bear.




Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Change in the Weather

The problem we are having with the motor home is air related. An air line feeds the throttle and this air line got moisture in it and froze, so no throttle, no go. Michael had never heard of an air fed throttle and none of our friends who have driven and owned big trucks has either. But, today was an awesome day--by 3pm, it was 60 degrees. We left Big Timber after taking Emmi to the vet for her shots, drove to Billings, picked up the motor home and were back home by 1pm. YEA, the motor home is home! It is still sitting at the base of our driveway in front of our former garage cause our driveway is still icy, but it is at least "up the Boulder."

YEA, the Crazy Mountains are in site, we are getting close to home!

Monday morning it was 5 below, today it is 60 degrees and the white stuff is melting fast. The sunshine made the mountains breathtaking today. These are the Crazy Mountains north of Big Timber and this is Nat's view from the windows of his house near Big Timber.
Driving up the Boulder was wonderful this afternoon, I kept wanting to stop and take photos.

Emmi is a happy girl today, too, she can be outside again.


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

A Trip To Billings

Michael and I both had one of those nights when you wake up at 2am and your brain starts churning and the next thing you know, two hours have gone by. And, we had to be out of the house by 8:30. 10 degrees this morning, better than the 5 below yesterday morning, we are gaining! And no more new snow although we did experience some freezing rain on the way to Billings.

I had a routine doctor's appointment at 11am and Michael met with a realtor to list our land we own near Park City. We have had it listed with our friend Gwen and that listing expired so we decided to go with someone in the Billings area. Then it was off to lunch at our favorite place, CJ's--we are sure there are other restaurants in Billings but the food is always good at CJ's and the staff know us by name!

Next on the list was my most anticipated stop--a haircut! My hairdresser has been on maternity leave all summer so I was looking forward to seeing her. I've talked about her in this blog before, she and her husband are not even 30 years old and both have such level heads. They saved money before this baby was born so they could both have the summer off right after his birth. Their two children do not attend day care very often, the parents have arranged their schedules so that one of them is with the children all the time. And Becky had a motor home story to top ours!!

Before she left this summer we talked about motor homes and we were both looking. Well, someone in her family gave them a 1983 27 foot motor home and Becky's husband put $4000 into it this summer fixing it up. They discussed at length whether or not to get liability only insurance or full coverage, finally deciding to get full coverage insurance . On their first trip out with a 3 year old and a month old baby they go to Belgrade, MT about 160 miles. They arrive and Becky notices white smoke coming from under the hood, says so to Shane but before she can even get the words out the smoke changes to black and flames appear. Shane screams at her to get out with the kids which she does and only after she gets out does she realize she left the diaper bag inside. The entire engine compartment burned!! Because their insurance policy was so new, the company sent a fire investigator who was very skeptical and gave them a really hard time. The rig was totalled and they received a settlement--now that definitely tops our little old story of being towed home!

We stopped and visited Nat on our way back through Big Timber dropping off the things we picked up for him. Emmi was very glad to see him. Tomorrow we are going back to Billings, UGH, to hopefully pick up the motor home--it is supposed to be much warmer--everybody think positive thoughts!

A wintry scene.


Monday, October 12, 2009

Cold, Cold

It was so cold in our house last night but tonight it finally feels warm. We have packed lots of firewood to the fireplace and the wood stove downstairs. Our basement floors and our tile floors upstairs have radiant hot water heat which we had not been turned on yet with the exception of the quilting room. We left the electric baseboard heat set at about 45 degrees. When the outside temps dip to the single digits, that just wasn't enough heat.

We took a walk in the snow today, poor little Emmi gets cold and needs to get inside one of our coats to warm up. She doesn't seem to mind the snow, though.

Michael plowed our driveway and parking area today. I put stuff away and vacuumed a little. Spent the afternoon in the quilting room--I needed a fix!

We are off to Billings tomorrow to get a hair cut and for one doctor's appointment. We will do the usual Costco/Wal Mart run, too. Our cupboards are a little bare!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Not As We Planned

This is how we ended the day!

Michael got the belts back on and we went up the road again but not very far. We made it only a little over 150 miles before we were left sitting on the side of the freeway. We called Good Sam and it was over three and a half hours before the wrecker got there. The kid driving the wrecker was great, he attempted to fix our problem for close to two hours before he gave up and decided to tow us. We left the motor home behind in Billings in the wrecking company's secure lot. Michael and the young man that towed us think there is a problem with our air driven throttle and with the shifting mechanism freezing. We are going to Billings on Tuesday for doctor and hair appointments, hopefully the weather will be better by then and it will run.

We arrived home a little after 8pm to a frozen wasteland and a very cold house--we had left a little heat on but not enough for the house to be toasty when we walked in with temperatures in the teens. Unloaded the Explorer and have collapsed, Emmi included. We are both so discouraged.

Our wonderful "fall" weather.
Looks like about two feet and this snow fell a week ago, didn't get very warm while we were gone, did it.




Didn't Get Far

We got the belts back on but very quickly it was obvious we had more than a belt problem. We are now sitting on the side of the freeway waiting for Good Sam to send us a wrecker. We seem to be having some sort of transmission problem. Thanks for all the comments, guys, we will keep you posted.

New Motorhome??

A newer motor home may be in our future. It is 15 degrees, snowing and we blew belts from the engine again. My poor husband is outside in this weather putting the belts back on. He muttered something about being done with this *&+%$# motor home when he went out the door last. Why do these things have to happen when the weather is the worst--murphy's law??

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Buffalo, WY

I had trouble sleeping last night, upset tummy and worrying about the weather today. We were both up while it was still dark and left the campground a little before 8. Last night we (Michael) had made the decision to go up into North Dakota where the weather was just a tad warmer--this morning we decided to go home the quickest way possible, across South Dakota on I94 and down into Wyoming. Dry roads but oh so cold. Poor little Emmi would just shiver when we did our potty walks (I was shivering, too.)

Tonight we are camped in a full service campground in Buffalo, WY. It is too cold to leave the water hose or sewer drain connected. Michael had to thaw the sewer drain cap with my hair dryer before he could get it off so we could both shower. How in the world do the construction workers in this campground live in these tin teepees over the winter?? We had pizza delivered for dinner--it hit the spot, had showers, walked Emmi and are tucked in for the night with all the heaters going. Let's hope it doesn't snow!

This is the scenery around here--looks like winter doesn't it?

Home tomorrow.

Friday, October 9, 2009

On The Road Again

Our classes finished up about noon and we hit the road. Our weather pattern on the way home is nothing to write home about--bitter cold and snow. As Michael has never driven this motor home on snow, he isn't too eager to start. I spoke with Nat, Mike's Dad a few minutes ago and it was 6 degrees at 6pm. Tonight we are once again parked at Lewis and Clark State Recreational Area outside Yankton, SD. It is a beautiful park with lots of fall colors. Tomorrow we are going to go north, yes, north into ND where the weather is not so bitterly cold and there is no snow. We hope to take it easy and reach Billings on Monday night--I have a doctor's appointment and a hair appointment there on Tuesday.

When we got Emmi and I would scold her, Michael would ask her if it was a "woe is me" kind of day, when he would say "woe is me" he would draw out the sounds and it would make Emmi throw back her head and howl--I caught her doing it last night.
We went through a county in Iowa today that had a billboard reading "SAC County Barn Quilt Blocks." I wondered what it was until I saw this quilt block on a barn front--isn't that cool, I want one!
The fall colors in this park are beautiful.





Onward tomorrow.